Manchester restaurants Dishoom, Gaucho and Salt & Pepper have beaten thousands of restaurants across the UK.
Here are the categories for the winning Mancunian eateries;
- Dishoom: Best Indian
- Gaucho: Fine Dining
- Salt & Pepper: Best Newcomer
The awards ceremony was a celebration of Deliveroo’s amazing restaurants and grocers in the UK and Ireland who have prospered despite a rollercoaster year for hospitality. Over 100 restaurants were shortlisted for an award, and the winners of 21 of the categories were chosen by public vote, with Brits backing their favourite family-run independents, high street favourites and grocery stores offering on-demand essentials.
Over 350,000 votes have been recorded, helping to demonstrate how passionate the nation is about great food and takeaways.
The final award of the night – Restaurant of the Year – was won by Wingstop, after battling it out with finalists Coqfighter, White Men Can’t Jerk, Fat Hippo, Pasta Evangelists and Proove.
The trendy chicken wing eatery prides itself on the quality products – from boneless wings, burgers and tenders – tossed with bold flavours such as Mango Habanero and Hickory Smoked BBQ. Wingstop today has 14 UK venues across cities including Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, London and opened its first in Edinburgh, Scotland this year. Wingstop believes they aren’t in the wing business, they are in the business of flavour.
The Restaurant of the Year is the most coveted award as it is the only award selected by a guest panel of expert judges. The panel featured a strong foodie line-up for 2021: grime artist, presenter and TV chef Big Zuu; food critic, Masterchef judge and columnist Grace Dent; judge of Junior Bake-Off and pastry chef Ravneet Gill and Deliveroo’s CEO Will Shu.
The expert foursome tried food from each restaurant in a London based cook-off, before scoring each finalist against a criteria which includes quality of food, environmental consciousness, going the extra mile for customers and the community, and value for money. The judges were impressed by Wingstop’s dish of flavoured wings, Korean tenders, lemon pepper fries and ranch dip, citing the bold flavours as stand out. The judges also commended Wingstop going the extra mile for new customers with handwritten welcome notes with meals.
Deliveroo founder and CEO Will Shu said, “The standard of finalists for Restaurant of the Year has been best-in-class. I’ve been blown away by the incredible culinary talent of the finalists, who put everything into the cook-off. Well done to all of our winners and finalists in every category, the food we’re delivering to customers has never been better and that’s thanks to the incredible restaurants and grocers on our platform.”
Tom Grogan of Wingstop UK added, “We’re absolutely delighted! It’s been an incredibly challenging year and to win this award, which has been judged by some of the biggest names in the UK restaurant industry, is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the Wingstop UK team. We want to thank our customers for all their support and look forward to serving them our award-winning flavours into 2022.”
Big Zuu commented, “Wingstop was a stand out. When I tried the signature lemon and pepper wings, all I was tasting was happiness. It was good, big on flavour, just like the ranch dressing. We love a wing to the stop.”
For 2021, Deliveroo increased the number of award categories to celebrate even more foods and cuisines – this year’s new awards included Best Essentials, Best Meals Under £10, Best Mexican Restaurant, Best Sushi, Best Kebab, Best Fine-dining Restaurant, Best Salads and Bowls, as well as repeat categories, including Best Burger, Best Pizza, Best Vegan Restaurant, Best Indian Restaurant, and Best Eco-friendly Restaurant.
First launched in 2019, the annual awards were created to celebrate the best restaurants and takeaways — and more recently, grocers such as Aldi, Co-op, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Morrisons — available on Deliveroo across the UK and Ireland.
